World Statesmen.org is
an online encyclopedia of the leaders of
nations and territories. The goal
of this site is to provide researchers
with detailed lists of leaders,
chronologies, flags, national anthems
and maps to give an in-depth portrait of
polities past and present.

This site
would not be possible without the help of Bob
Hilkens, author of States and Regents of
the World, Alexander Kunde, Juan Jorge
Schaffer, John McMeekin, Dr. John DaGraca
(author of Heads of State and Government),
Jaume Olle, Daniel Trigaux, Paris Renesis,
Henry Soszynski author of Genealogical
Gleanings, and Oleg Schultz author of Archontology,
in addition to the many contributors cited in
the contributors
page. I would like to thank everyone very much
for their help and commitment to making this
site more complete and accurate.

World Statesmen.org
is updated frequently and the editor welcomes
and appreciates comments, corrections and
additions. This site will always be a
work in progress, there will always be more
information to collect, new countries
and provinces to add, and leaders to
include. Items are that still needed on
the Help Needed
page, please have a look and contribute if you
have access to any of this data. If you
would like to use any material on this site
for any reason or link to this site contact me
to obtain permission. Finally, any financial contributions, via
secure PayPal, will help to maintain this
site,
pay for internet access and research
materials.

Below is explanation
of the abbreviations, conventions, noble
titles as well as a visual explanation of
layout of a typical country page.

-Ben Cahoon

Conventions

DATES: All dates since 1700 are given
in the Gregorian calendar ("new style") as opposed to
Julian ("old style") dates or other calendar systems,
unless otherwise noted. The introduction of the
Gregorian calendar, proclaimed by Pope Gregory XIII in
1582, was not universally accepted and took centuries
for nations to pass legislative acts for switching to
the New Style. Transfers occurred after 1582 in: Austria
(1584), Transylvania (1590), Duchy of Prussia
(1612), Denmark-Norway and Brandenburg
(1700), Switzerland (1701), Tuscany (1750), Great
Britain and colonies (1752), Sweden (1753),
Japan (1873), China (1912 confirmed 1929), Albania
(1913), Bulgaria (1916), Russia (1918), Yugoslavia
(1919), Greece (1923), Romania (1924), and Turkey (1927)
(click
here for more on this topic).

(?) The question mark is used where an
exact year of the beginning or end of a term is
approximately known, The question mark is also used to
indicate dates at which the person is known to have
been in office, e.g., "1924? - 1925?" means the term
began in 1924 or earlier and ended in 1925 or later or
if the identity of the person is in question "Ralph
Dryer?".

(f) Indicates a female ruler when a
title is non-gender specific. Therefore, (f) would
follow a female President "Tarja Halonen (f)",
of Finland or former after British Prime minister
"Margaret Thatcher (f)". This abbreviation does
not follow the names of Queen Elizabeth II, Empress
Catherine II, Grand Duchess Charlotte, or Abbess Maria
von Retchburg for example, because these titles
explicitly convey the holders gender.

c. = Circa, i.e. the approximate year.
This is used when historical records are uncertain or
in conflict.

bf. = Before, af. = After. These
are used where slightly more than an approximate date
is indicated.

b. = year Born, d. = year
Died;

s.a. = See Above, s. b. = See Below.
Please note that some given birth years may be
questionable, as different sources often give
contradictory information. In cases where birth or
death year are unclear, the date is followed by a
question mark (i.e., "1923?"), however, this
does not mean that the year is guaranteed to be 100%
correct when there is no question mark. When only a
birth year is given, it should not be taken for
granted that the person is indeed still alive, i.e.
(b. 1898) with no death date.

(Convention on the
Prohibition of the Use, Stockpiling,
Production and Transfer of
Anti-Personnel Mines and on their
Destruction), known informally as the
Ottawa Treaty, the Anti-Personnel Mine
Ban Convention, or often simply the
Mine Ban Treaty, signed 3 Dec 1997,
entered into force 1 Mar 1999.

Asian and Pacific
Council, 1966-1973 (Australia, Japan,
South Korea, Malaysia, Republic of
China [Taiwan], New Zealand, The
Philippines, South Korea, South
Vietnam and Thailand, with Cambodia,
Indonesia and Laos an observers)

South American
Community of Nations; Comunidad
Sudamericana de Naciones/Comunidade Sul-Americana de Nações
(CSN), est. 8 Dec 2004,
renamed
16 Apr 2007 to Union of South American
Nations (Unión de Naciones
Suramericanas/União
Sul-Americana de Nações)
(UNASUR).

Group of 15, est.
Sep 1989, byproduct of the NAM; name
persists despite increased
membership.

G-19

Group of 19 (held
several sessions 1975-1977)

G-20

Group of 20 of
industrial nations, which superseded
the Group of 33, which had itself
superseded the G-22, est. 26 Sep 1999;
and also known as the G-20 of
developing nations; est. Sep 2003 also
variously called G-21.

G-24

Group of 24, est. 1
Aug 1989, est. to promote the
interests of developing countries in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America within
the IMF.

G-30

Group of 30, est.
1978

G-33

Group of 33,
superseded the Group of 22 in 11 Mar
1999.

G-77

Group of 77, est. 15
Jun 1964. est. to promote economic
cooperation among developing
countries; name persists in spite of
increased membership.

Georgia, Ukraine,
Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Moldova group
of states GUUAM est. 10 Oct 1997;
Uzbekistan withdrew in 5 May
2005, from then named GUAM; from 22
May 2006 renamed GUAM Organization for
Democracy and Economic
Development.

Zangger Committee,
also known as the Nuclear Exporters
Committee, created to establish
guidelines for the export control
provisions of the Nuclear Weapons
Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),
est. 1971 (39 members)

National and Local Holidays

Country

National Holiday(s)

Afghanistan

Independence Day, 19 August (1919)

Albania

Independence Day, 28 November (1912)

Algeria

Revolution Day, 1 November (1954)

American Samoa

US
Independence Day, 4 Jul (1776); Flag Day,
17 April (1900)

Andorra

Our Lady
of Meritxell Day, 8 September (1278)

Angola

Independence Day, 11 November (1975)

Anguilla

Anguilla
Day, 30 May (1967)

Antigua and Barbuda

Independence Day (National Day), 1
November (1981)

Argentina

Revolution Day, 25 May (1810)

Armenia

Independence Day, 21 September (1991)

Aruba

Flag
Day, 18 March (1976); Queen's Day, 30
April

Australia

Australia Day, 26 January (1788); ANZAC
Day 25 April (1915)

Austria

National
Day, 26 October (1955)

Azerbaijan

Founding
of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan,
28 May (1918)

Bahamas, The

Independence Day, 10 July (1973)

Bahrain

National
Day, 16 December (1971)

Bangladesh

Independence Day, 26 March (1971);

Barbados

Independence Day, 30 November (1966)

Belarus

Independence Day, 3 July (1944);

Belgium

21 July
(1831) ascension to the Throne of King
Leopold I

Belize

Independence Day, 21 September (1981)

Benin

National
Day, 1 August (1960)

Bermuda

Bermuda
Day, 24 May

Bhutan

National
Day (Ugyen WANGCHUCK became first
hereditary king), 17 December (1907)

Independence Day, 24
August (1991); note - 22 January 1918, the
day Ukraine first declared its
independence (from Soviet Russia) and the
day the short-lived Western and Greater
(Eastern) Ukrainian republics united
(1919), is now celebrated as Unity Day.

United
Arab Emirates

Independence Day, 2
December (1971)

United
Kingdom

Birthday of Queen
ELIZABETH II, second Saturday in June
(1926)

United
States

Independence Day, 4 July
(1776)

Uruguay

Independence Day, 25
August (1825)

Uzbekistan

Independence Day, 1
September (1991)

Vanuatu

Independence Day, 30 July
(1980)

Vatican
City
(Holy See)

Election Day of Pope FRANCIS, 13 March
(2013)

Venezuela

Independence Day, 5 July
(1811)

Vietnam

Independence Day, 2
September (1945)

Virgin
Islands (US)

US Independence Day, 4 Jul
(1776); Transfer Day, 27 March (1917)

Wallis
and Futuna

Bastille Day, 14 July
(1789); Territory Day, 29 July (1961)

Western
Sahara

Independence
Day, 29 February (1976); note -
mostly controlled by Morocco which
celebrates Throne Day (accession of King
MOHAMED VI to the throne), 30 July (1999)

Total
Armed Forces: Total active
duty military personnel, includes all
branches of service or denotes
None or if another polity is responsible for
defense; if no military then
police force size is given.-----------------------------------------------Declared/Undeclared
Nuclear Power (date): Notes
if a statepossesses nuclear
weapons, date at which it became
a nuclear power and
current estimate of total
number of nuclear weapons
in the national inventory.-----------------------------------------------Merchant
marine: Defined here
as all ships engaged in the
carriage ofgoods or all
commercial non-military vessels
excluding tugs, fishing
vessels, offshore oil rigs; A
merchant ship is a vesselthat carries goods
against payment of freight.

Religions:
provides
a rank ordering of
religions by adherents
starting with the largest
group and sometimes includesthe percent of total
population, with year of census/estimate.

International
Organizations/Treaties: the
abbreviations for this polities
major international and
intergovernmentalorganization
participation. The list of
abbreviation descriptions
is found below. Many
of these organizations are covered
onthe International
Organizations pages.
Whenever possible current
membership is determined from an
organization's website.

Afghanistan
IndexCountry index
provides a key to
the data on each page.

Chronology

Following
the presentation of
flags and information
is a chronology.When
necessary, links to
other national/polity
pages are given.

Note:
Before 1881 there were essentially four
rulers' capitals: Kabul, Herat, Qandahar,
and Peshawar (the last now in Pakistan). All
the rulers belong to the Abdali tribal
group, whose name was changed to Dorrani on
the accession of Ahmad Shah. They
belong either to the Saddozay segment of the
Popalzay clan (typically with the style padshah
[king]) or to the Mohammadzay segment of the
Barakzay clan (typically with the style
amir, in full Amir al-Mo´menin [Leader
of the Faithful], which is also the style of
the current Taliban leader). The Mohammadzay
also furnished the Saddozay kings frequently
with top counselors, who served occasionally
as regents, identified with the epithet
Mohammadzay.

De facto leaders are listed at the top of the
entry. These are rulers who officially
occupy none of listed posts, but control or
have major influence over the polity.

Political Party
abbreviations are noted either in a column
opposite the birth and death years.
Explanation of the abbreviations are listed
at the bottom of the page. Party
orientations are my interpretation and are
not official platforms.

Notes on current
territorial disputes are listed above
political parties. Territorial
Disputes: former "Pushtunistan" issue
with Pakistan, border dispute with
Tajikistan.

An explanation of
political party abbreviations: The interpretation of
parties political orientation is the editors
unofficial designation and does not
necessarily represent a parties "official"
platforms. If the polity has no
political parties or groups are illegal the
note "No Political Parties Exist/Allowed"
will be given.

Usually this
refers to the servant of a knight, a young person of
roughly 14 to 21 who is learning the business of being
a

knight. It, and similar
terms in other languages have been applied to landed
gentry, owners of large estates who do not
hold patents of nobility.
The term derives ultimately to a phrase (Esquyer,
Escutier)in Anglo-Norman meaning
"Shieldbearer", and a variant
of that has also remained in the language:
Esquire.

Tanaiste, Tanist (Ir.): Successor-designate
to a chieftaincy or royalty. Utilized today as the
Irish term for

Wang (Chinese, Korean, etc.): A
Chinese term for kings; the Ruler of the State. Often
adopted by

neighboring states within
Chinese cultural influence, or specifically granted
the term by Chinese diplomats or

overlords. Vietnamese
equivalent is Vuong.

Currency
Codes

The International Standards
Organization (ISO) has created codes for
currencies and for countries. The ISO has
established two- and three letter codes for
almost every country in the world, as well as
some geographic territories (such as
islands). The ISO currently provides three
letter currency codes for most of the world's
currency. These codes combine the two letter
alphabetic codes (US for United States) for each
country with the first letter of the currency (D
for Dollar) to create the code for the US Dollar
(USD). ISO three letter currency codes are used
whenever one has already been established by the
ISO.

The ISO does not provide
codes for all currencies. The reason for this
is that the money issuing authority within
that country must apply to the ISO for a new
currency or country code. Currencies may not
have currency codes for several reasons.
First, some countries, such as Somaliland or
Transdniester that are not internationally
recognized, do not have country or currency
codes. Second, countries may not apply for new
codes when they introduce a new currency.
Third, the ISO has not set up any historical
currency codes for currencies that no longer
exist.

Some non-ISO codes used
here are those Dr. Bryan Taylor of Global
Financial Data, Inc. The created codes
are based on the ISO system of both three
letter codes and four-letter codes for
currencies. The three letter codes are
provided for currencies that have been issued
by countries that are still in existence or
have had a two letter code assigned to them by
the ISO. The Rhodesia Pound has been given the
symbol RHP because Rhodesia was assigned the
symbol RH by the ISO, but the Katanga Franc
has been assigned the symbol KATF because
Katanga never received any ISO codes. Four
letter codes are provided for the currencies
of “dead” countries. Hence, the
Confederate States of America (CSA) Dollar has
been given the code CSAD to indicate that the
Confederate States no longer
exists. Finally the ISO uses an
“X” when a currency is used across
international borders. The West African Franc
has been assigned the symbol XOF by the ISO
and the SDR the symbol XDR. Consequently, XEAS
is used for the East Africa Shilling.